Warren Buffett, socialist?

[BigBuffet]

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Buffett feels the biggest problem facing the world is overpopulation so he is giving his money to a foundation that will find ways to stop overpopulation.

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Shudder [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

I know he supports a constitutional amendment to let foreigners run for president. I have also seen a photo of him with Schwartzenegger. If he helps the Terminazi get elected, I'm sure that the overpopulation problem will be solved...

[mosdef]

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Basically what I'm wondering is do you see this tax as a way of preventing spoiled brats from getting big gifts, or do you see this tax as a way of grabbing as much money as you can from a dead guy?

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Why can't it be both?

[mosdef]

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So the crux of his argument is that a vast amount of monetary resources are being held hostage by people who have not shown that they are equipped to put it in productive use via the inheritance mechanism.

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I can't see them do anything but spend it, and I can't see spending it as being anything other than "productive". Unless they set it on fire, they're going to use the money productively.

[AlexM]

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Buffett feels the biggest problem facing the world is overpopulation so he is giving his money to a foundation that will find ways to stop overpopulation.

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Shudder [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

I know he supports a constitutional amendment to let foreigners run for president. I have also seen a photo of him with Schwartzenegger. If he helps the Terminazi get elected, I'm sure that the overpopulation problem will be solved...

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I assume that term comes from his father since he himself is much less of a "Nazi" than Hilliani?

[ALawPoker]

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So is Buffett a socialist? capitalist?

How would you label him?

Is he wrong about the death tax?

Do you agree with any of his quotes?

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It's hard to read too much into what people like this say or do. You never know if he truly believes it or if it's the public reaction/support he is after.

He could very well agree with the intellectual merit of being opposed to taxation, or whatnot, but be "for" certain types of it for reasons that aren't necessarily logically formulated (in the same way politicians are "for" and "against" certain things). Who knows what they really think if they're sitting by a fire with their wife and kids.

I would label him as Warren Buffet (the Doyle Brunson of the stock market!) and not really worry too much about his political ramblings.

[Misfire]

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"Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline," Buffett said. "A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy."

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How is giving money to people who didn't earn it through taxes any less hostile toward meritocracy than giving it to your kids?

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"In a country that prides itself on equality of opportunity, it's becoming anything but that as the gap between the super-rich and the middle class is widening."

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What is super-rich? IIRC, despite his philanthropy, he's still leaving each of his kids 1B+.

[ConstantineX]

Anyone who thinks Buffets' views on this are less than altruistic is being silly. It's actually the same mistake - rather than having faith in his belief of his idea's good outcome, you want to ascribe some malicious intent to a man who gave away $50 billion. But the road to hell is littered with good intentions, or so they say...

[Mark1808]

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So the crux of his argument is that a vast amount of monetary resources are being held hostage by people who have not shown that they are equipped to put it in productive use via the inheritance mechanism.

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I can't see them do anything but spend it, and I can't see spending it as being anything other than "productive". Unless they set it on fire, they're going to use the money productively.

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Does Buffett feel that anyone can put the money to use less effeciently than the government? He has an alterior agenda with this argument.

[Misfire]

Giving away his money is fine with me. Altruism FTW if that's his thing.

Advocating giving away OTHER PEOPLE'S money is another story.

[ALawPoker]

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Anyone who thinks Buffets' views on this are less than altruistic is being silly. It's actually the same mistake - rather than having faith in his belief of his idea's good outcome, you want to ascribe some malicious intent to a man who gave away $50 billion.

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It doesn't have to be one of either 'altruistic' or 'malicious.' It can easily be neither. If I'm filthy rich, I probably have more to gain by giving a bunch of money away than I do by holding on to all of it. It's odd how rare it is for these supposedly generous people making great sacrifices to give away a large enough chunk of their net worth to actually have a serious effect on their quality of life.

It doesn't mean they're malicious, it just means they, like everyone else, are self-interested and this is what they choose to do with their money. It's still a good thing. But it shouldn't be looked at as some sort of sacrifice. I just see it as "Oh, what a successful man that he can afford to give so much money away and help so many people."